This paper proposes to apply “anthropology of absence” to migration, and specifically to different performance situations: revitalized local village feasts, wedding parties, and funeral ceremonies. Such events, attended by migrants returning to their home village, are characterized by a particular emotional ambiguity and a dynamic process of being charged with, and released from, longing. At the same time, discourses about roots, tradition, and a primordial space are nourished, aiming at giving sense to a world of absence.